Mixed Reality gaming in Japan

One of the areas of convergence for location-based applications and gaming is the idea of mixed reality, where places in the game correspond to real-world locations, and actions in one lead to events or consequences in the other. Treasure Quest: Enoshima – Treasure of the Dragon, is a mixed-reality game for Nintendo DS users that takes users on a treasure hunt around the small island of Enoshima north of Tokyo. Once players get the free software, they travel around the island and pick up clues to find the treasure (the catch of course is that you have to physically travel to the island and be able to read Japanese).

So, why would this be interesting to people beyond the few who can actually play the game before it ends on February 19th? Because the company that wrote and is running the game, Rush Japan, actually specializes in tourism, and the Enoshima game is designed to promote tourism in the area and is a great example of a growing number of applications that are using gaming technologies in innovative ways.